"But I got that job and worked there for 37 years. I had a goal. And now my goal is teaching everybody about black history," Mills said in a 2002 Times Union interview.

Mills was a lifetime member of the Fifth Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church. The congregation asked Mills in 1994 to plan a fundraiser to support the Harriet Tubman historic site in Auburn.

"I was so fascinated with this woman, I felt I had to be here," Mills said in a 1998 Times Union interview.

Mills studied Tubman, who escaped slavery in 1849 and led more than 300 people to freedom as part of the Underground Railroad.

In Troy, Tubman was involved in the 1860 rescue of Charles Nalle, which prevented Nalle from being returned to slavery.

Mills became well-known for bringing Tubman alive to audiences around the Capital Region.

During her life, Mills was active with Troy Area United Ministries, NAACP, Literacy Volunteers, the PTA, Telephone Pioneers of America and served on the 21st Century League of Voters Committee to try to get a holiday named for Harriet Tubman.